Dell XPS 15 R2 - L502x - Owners Lounge

@bonjurkes

try reinstalling the dell quickset software, if that is not work, try disasembly the unit and the check the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the buttons pannel.

 

I'm an absolutely "newbie" to the world of WiDi ... but I'd like to try it out. Problem is, my XPS 15 (which I purchased used off of eBay) doesn't have the Intel "WiDi" sticker on it, and I find no reference to the software or drivers on the laptop.

I've read through a ton of messages on both the Intel web site, as well as the Dell website, and I'm totally confused about what software and/or drivers I need to download and install!

Is there someone who would be willing to help this old guy get into the 21st century?

Processor: i7-2720QM
OS: Windows 7 Home Edition 64-bit
Intel(R) WiFi Link 1000 BGN

Any additional specs needed?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

i wanna change out my 720p screen for the R+B+G led one that dell used to sell for $150
from here https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/screen-part-number/B156HW01 V.7/
would i also need a new cable as well?

 

My fan on my L502X is always on max even when my temps are only 40 degrees, how do I make it normal again, I have everything in the BIOS at defaults

If you don't already have the driver, you need it
Intel® Wireless Display — Laptop and Ultrabook™ system software and drivers for Intel® Wireless Display

You need the full HD ribbon cable for it

 

See if this sheds any light on your issue ... Re: [FIXED] Dell XPS 15 L502x [fan on, fan off, fan on, fan off...] on Windows 7 - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

Would I need to un-install any existing drivers first?

 

where do i get the cable ? and how much does it cost

 

I'll try that

If you already have it you dont need to reinstall anything.

XPS L502X display cable | eBay
or you could see if Dell still has some

 

Hello:

I have a Dell XPS 15 L502X 15.6 with a WXGA (1366x768) HD screen. When I bought it, at the DELL Web site, I had the option of choosing a factory installed Full HD 1920x1080 screen, but sadly I didn´t choose it. Since I work in Graphic Design now I see that I want to upgrade my screen to a better resolution.

What I have learn is that LG manufactures my current 15.6 with a WXGA (1366x768) HD screen. In fact this one is:

LG Display LP156WH2-TLA1 Overview - Panelook.com

I have been looking for an upgrade to a 1920x1080 Full HD screen and what I have found after a long intense search is a compatible AUO B156HW01 V7 (Full HD 1920x1080) screen that can work in my laptop.

AUO B156HW01 V7 Overview - Panelook.com

Even when many people says in different forums that this screen is descent in quality and features, it doesn´t have the quality of an LG or Samsung screen.

What I need to know is who manufactures the factory installed Full HD 1920 x 1080 Dell Screen in Dell XPS L502X, to find it and then buy it.

So, please if anyone has a factory installed 1920x1080 Full HD Screen in a XPS L502X and can tell me who manufactures that screen, it will be very very nice and I will appreciate it a lot.

Thank you very much,

Eduardo RG

 

The model is AUO17ED, aka B156HW01 v4 or B156HW01 v7

https://www.laptopscreen.com/Englis...ection=products&model=XPS 15 L502X&brand=Dell

 

its the AUO B156HW01 V7 thats the rbg led screen dell uses out the factory u can get it from dell but that $150 they will charge u can get it cheaper here
about $90usd https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/Dell/XPS~15~L502X/

the AUO b156HW01 v4 is the matte version its good same colour spectrum coverage but the gloss screen is better .... so it will fall to your preference of glossy vs the less reflective matte but the matte is 100 usd
im looking to upgrade myself

 

nice prices there for the 1080p screens

do the same site sell the required FullHD cable to upgreade from a 720p panel?

 

i dont think so man i haven't checked

 

Does anyone happen to know what size the screws are that tighten the hinges for the lid on the l502x? One of the two in that black section underneath on either side of the battery somehow backed it self out, which I'm still amazed at and now the lid is loose. This happened once before but I miraculously found the screw on the seat in my car -___- though I'm not so hopeful this time around, and I doubt dell would sell or send me 1 metric screw

EDIT: Never mind, found one at an Ace Hardware and it is an M2.5 for those who might be in the same boat

 

Please help. The problem with BIOS supervisor's password. I have set this password and I've also set a user bios password. I want to change or disable the supervisor's BIOS password, but there's no way to do that. I can change user's password fine, but the line for supervisor's password is grayed out, so I can't change it. I don't know what to do. Any ideas?

 

By the way, I'm also encountering an issue with game crashes, probably because of the high temperatures. Very disappointed about that and seems like it affects quite a lot of people. I have to underclock my GT 540m to avoid crashes in newer games.

 

I just played Skyrim on mine (i7 2670QM, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 525M 1GB) for about an hour on high and 2x AA without a problem. Never had a game crash on me from heat. What annoys me is the stupid fan. It spins up and goes crazy when I am just typing in Word or surfing the web. I would reseat the heatsink (build my own PC's), but I am hesitant to pull a laptop apart. Plus the tech that came over to replace some loose casing (palmrest and the black piece around the screen were very squeaky) told me that when you take it apart it loosens the plastic tabs and you end up with a squeaky chassis (never took it apart). Not sure which is worse...

 

Does anyone know any hacks or anything on how to get "Display Power Saving Technology" to work when it's plugged in. It only works when it's on battery...



When it's plugged in the option isn't there to select.



There must some way to activate it when it's plugged in.


The reason I need this feature is for dynamic contrast during videos as my AUO17ED screen has either a poor black level or light bleed.

 

Just ordered a HDD caddy and external enclosure

 

Question.

I know it is possible to do 2560x1600 out of the mini display port, but is it possible to run games on the nvidia card and output it through the mini display port at that res?

 

First of all I should say that this is the crappiest laptop I have ever bought, not planning to buy Dell again.

Anyways, my laptop was acting up weirdly latest, so I decided to do some hard drive check and it looks like the hard drive have some bad sectors (trying to correct that problem with seatools) but I am not quite sure if issue will get worse.

So can I just replace my laptop hard drive with any other 2.5 mm disk with higher size maybe, or do I need to buy and replace it exactly with st9500420as ?

 

a hard drive is a hard drive you replace it whith what ever brand of hard disk u wish of greater or lesser size i would recommend and SSD and use the current drive for backup ...... i paid 90 for a 128gb ssd and my 500gb may go as a networked drive to store all my junk so i get speed an space

 

Has nobody connected their L502X to a high res (2560x1440 or 2560x1600) monitor and tried to play games on the nvidia card?

 

nope, but with the mid range/weak GPUs the L502X have (gt525m and gt540m)

the games fps on that resolution will be really poor unless you play simple graphics games like minecraft or anything similar on that resolution ^^

 

I always run games on lowest settings (sometimes even using fps configs)in favor of high fps and mostly play source engine games (which are usually CPU bottle necked)

 

well, I overclocked the gpu, and also lowered the game graphic settings including the resolution until it get a decent frame rate.
however gamming on 2560x1600 resolution with this gpu is probably a crazy idea, you will need at least a GTX card or a equivalent ATI/AMD gpu to get decent frame rates.

about source games, yeah, its really curius how bad they run with newer multicore proccesor.

I remember they ran fine with my old pentium 4 proccesors , however with my i3 proccesor, I had to put a cuple tweaks and stuff to make it at least playable.

I think the source engine is not very optimized at all for new proccesors, but well, considering it have its time, its normal ^^

 

Hah, to think I was going to say this problem isn't very often, it happened as I was typing this up the first time. Anyway:

We've been having some bad luck with Dell lately. We had a laptop die due to video reasons (screen would not come on, and nothing would show up from HDMI out), and a printer give a lovely "problem with the printerhead" message. Now I think my 2 year old XPS laptop is showing signs of failure.

It only began to happen recently; what happens is my screen will randomly turn into a sporadic, completely chaotic mess of flashing colors. At this point, the system is completely locked up. There are a few rows of bars aligned vertically on the screen of random colors, while the rest of the desktop can be barely made out as it is flickering quite badly. Sort of like what you can see in the picture here: Intel HD 3000 Crashes randomly

The thing is, I'm not gaming when it happens (like I mentioned, while writing this post it occurred). I was going to say the problem is quite intermittent, but it just happened twice within the last 10 minutes, which is why I'm trying to write this quickly lol. Could it be a memory error? Might've been a bad idea to try the RAM stick from the laptop which just died a few weeks ago, but I couldn't resist the idea of a free upgrade to 8 GB...and the module matched the one installed in my system.

Does anyone happen to know what's going on, or what to test? Or is there a good chance this thing is on its way out?

Thanks in advance!

 

Would someone mind uploading their Recovery and Drivers CD for me to download? I lost mine, and requested a new copy from Dell. But I don't know how long it'll take to get to me.

 

XPS L502x Drivers Win7 64bit | driverswin.com

 

Hi everyone,
two weeks ago I purchased a refurbished Dell XPS15 L502x from Dell UK OUTLET.
I specifically purchased the laptop with FHD, but today I received it with HD.
What is the best steps I should fellow?
How can I return it and get a refund?
any help is appreciated.
thanks in advance.

 

I've noticed a severe drop in the time my L502X will last on the battery since I bought it. HWMonitor reports a wear level of 43%. Does that sound high to anyone?

I've only had the laptop 18 months, don't use the battery that often (most of the time its plugged in) and live in a relatively cool country. Another family member has a macbook which is now more than 3 and a half years old which only has a wear level of 19%.

Would dell replace the battery, considering the warranty has ended?

 

I've had my L502x for ~22 months and am at 29%. Usage scenarios drastically affect battery wear so it will vary widely between users. You can't really compare wear between different batteries, either.

If warranty is over they will not replace the battery.

 

mine is now on 38%

well, after some years, gamming on battery power and OC both CPU and GPU, I guess its normal

 

I have the 540m, an i7 processor, and 8GB of RAM, and the only games I play are simulation games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Cities XL 2012 (basically a knock-off of SimCity), and Need For Speed World (one could argue that this is not technically a simulation game, but I still think it is because I am simulating driving a Ford Mustang in a race or running away from cops).

Anyway, in these games, I don't need much more than around 30fps for them to be playable, so I can get away with using medium-high (not maximum or ultra-high) graphics settings.

I bought an aftermarket 9-cell battery from ebatts.com, and the wear level went up to 12% within a week. Fortunately, I've had the battery for almost 3 months so far, and that percentages hasn't increased from 12% yet, so I'm hoping to get a good two more years out of it until I graduate from college in spring 2015 and can afford to buy a new laptop.

 

I've had mine for about 18 months as well, and I'm only showing 20% wear. I have accidentally drained the battery completely at least 10 times, and I very often drain the battery down to about 20% or less, probably at least 3 times a week. I can't say much about how accurate that reading is, but with my usage I don't really know if I can believe that 20% wear that HWMonitor is reporting to me.

 

hi all sorry if this has been asked

im looking to upgrade my proccessor (along with someother things) i have the i5-2410m at the moment runnin on a dell 0yr8nn motherboard. from what i have read upgrading to a 3rd gen is out of the question so it will have to be a second gen the question is will the board handle a quad core with a tdp of 45w?
or evan an xm i7 with a tdp of 55w

anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks to all that replied about the battery life.

It was mentioned that usage means that it's difficult to compare battery wear between users but it seems that others who game on their batteries and OC have lower wear levels.

I know that one of the biggest determinants of battery wear is heat, so I always remove the battery before playing games and I doubt that the laptop has been used on the battery more than 150 times.

I just felt that 43% wear in 18 months sounds quite excessive.

If you look at my post above (#4132), it looks like I've got the same motherboard as you and my laptop has a i7 2630QM. My laptop is completely stock with no tweaks or upgrades.

Although, I have never opened up or upgraded a laptop so I'm in no position to say that a quad core will work, others on here will be in a much better position than me to comment on upgrades.

 

is it possible to upgrade the built in wifi on this laptop to something with 802.11ac support? i know there are dongles available but wondered if there were suitable internal cards...

 

ARK | Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

You can replace it by accessing the bottom panel. But it's not released yet.

 

Ugh...my L502 died this weekend, almost 2 years old and 1 year out of warranty

It will no longer power on. I've tried multiple known good AC adapters, flea power discharge, even the spare battery I had laying around and it just won't respond to the power button. Anyone else have this happen and if so, how helpful was Dell -- especially since mine is out of warranty.

 

@chrisholland03

sounds like a dead motherboard, well, you can try power on the machine by bridge the pins with a metal screwdrivers before the ribbon cable (basically bypass the ribbon cable and the power buton pcb, that will override the power button and will let u to know if is a problem with the button or cable itself, or if it is a issue with the motherboard itself)


you can also try check the motherboard for fuses, I remember I fixed some old laptop motherboard by bridging some burned fuses.

my machine hopefully still working fine even with both CPU and GPU overclock and running nicely games like assasins creed III

 

Does anyone know if the bezel on the l502x comes right off or do I have to take the whole thing down to get the lid off? I've replaced it once before after tearing the whole thing down and its cracked again, but I feel like it should just be some clips that peel off but I'd love it if someone could confirm or deny.

 

Confirming the motherboard is dead. After 4 calls to Dell, they want $400 to replace it. I am choosing to no longer do business with Dell as a result of their lack of support of their product and the lack of professionalism displayed in my interactions with Dell on this issue (and others encountered with my L521x). I had two representatives state that 'leaving the power cable and USB devices attached to the laptop will cause motherboard failure'. I had one representative chastise me for not purchasing the 3 year warranty when I had the opportunity. I sent an email to [email protected] and received a call from overseas telling me 'your laptop is out of warranty, unfortunately you are out of luck. That is life'.

It's one thing to be told no, it's another to be insulted.

I also found a local shop that is willing to replace the motherboard for $225 vs the $400 Dell wants. And I didn't get attitude or insulted.

I also just bought a new Sony Duo 13 -- was planning to buy an XPS12 up until this fiasco. We'll see how Sony does for longevity and customer service.

 

I regret buying this notebook. I can't even open up and repaste it myself. My warranty is only for parts, not labor now. So, I'm wondering, how much will it cost me to change the motherboard, or at least disassemble it and repaste it.

I know this is not the only notebook that has cooling problems, but at least other notebooks are easier to deal with.

So, my problems with this notebook:

1. The display is too damn bright. It's hard on the eyes. Solution to this: I've had to reduce brightness in Intel graphics options to 0. AND I've also had to reduce brightness in Nvidia Control Panel. To me it doesn't make sense that they both work together.

2. It started crashing in games like half a year ago. The only solution is to underclock the GPU.

3. Now I think it's underperforming because of overheating. I've tried blowing through (with my mouth, using a folded paper) vents. I hear how the cooler is spinning when I do that. But I suppose if there is more dust, I can't reach it. Not sure if a canned air would work better. What do you think?

I don't think the quality of the notebook should be as it is. Nobody have warned me before I bought it that I will have these problems. I see videos on youtube of people playing games with the same specs with much higher FPS. I know other manufacturers have similar problems too, or the same. Which doesn't make it OK. If you're selling a notebook which you know will require a repaste after one year, I think you have to let your customers know about it. When I was buying it, I thought it will work for at least 3 years without any problems.

So now, if I'm not going to get a new motherboard put in for a reasonable amount of money, I don't know how am I going to sell this thing, because it has a flawed GPU.

Basically EVERYTHING about this notebook says mediocrity at best. Dells don't care about details. How can you trust them when they don't even care enough to let you know that the display is going to show oversaturated colors? I can't. What's the point of this "great quality" display if you can't even decrease brightness enough? I don't know.

4. It has a display with unrealistic colors. And Windows still doesn't support color profiles for OS. Nobody have warned me about it. Apple doesn't use displays like this for a reason, it seems. Might be part of the reason why they are doing great. "Multimedia" and "professionals" my . Might also be a reason why most professionals are using Apple. And it might be a reason why new XPS again tries to look more like Apple MBP.

5. Fan on/off. The least of the issues.

Whenever I see a new XPS I see a sign that says "possible butt hurt included", and I don't trust reviews now too. I've read "reviews" on this thing, only they forgot to mention all these problems.

Now I know the cost of choosing mediocrity. Next time, at least I'm going to choose a cheaper version of it.

 

@Beyond One

if you cant repaste by yourself, try use one of those compressed air things to clean the dust from the heatsink from outside, it isnt the best thing to do, but it helps.

also, give a try to my modded bioses if you didnt tried yet, many users said the crashes are solved by using the modded bios with undervolt wich generate less heat.

also the modded bios offer unlocked menus and aditional features.

 

capitankasar, thanks. I saw your BIOSes and considered them already. I have questions. If I will flash that bios, will it mess with my warranty (as I wrote, I have only a warranty for parts left, but I may need it)? And second, will undervolted BIOS also make my XPS lose some of the performance?

Where should I be pointing that compressed air? I don't really understand. So far I see only one direction -- into the holes where the fan, is on the left side of the notebook. All it seems to do is spinning the fan the other way. Holes on the bottom of the notebook seem to be very small and I'm not sure where the heatsink that you mention is situated.

 

well, I didnt saw any stuff asking flashing modded bioses will void warranty, however, you can allways flash the original bios again and there will be no evidence custom bioses has been used at this laptop.

my modded bioses are just the original bios with some changes.

nope, undervolting the GPU will not cause performance lose.

it even raised my overclock stability for my 525m since it runs more cool.

now my machine is cooler and faster

the compressed air should be focused the left of the machine, the vent hole, or from the botton of the laptop under the vent holes under the left corner.
that should clean a little the dust.



anyway I suggest to take appart the machine and clean the dust properly by disasembling the fan and heatsink, and also repaste.

remove the dust filter is also recomended since it improves the airflow greatly.

 

Thanks to capitankasar I have solved my "entering BIOS as a supervisor" problem. It turns out that in order to enter BIOS as a supervisor, you have to first enter BIOS as a user and clear the user's password by entering a current user's password and then entering a new BLANK password. Yep, it makes sense and it's very "intuitive" for sure. Also, when I have asked DELL for help with this, they asked for my name, that is registered with a service tag. Why? All they needed to do is say: please clear your user password first. Sigh.

 

Does anyone know how Windows 8 performs on the l502x? My main concern is the losing the gestures with the touchpad because I've heard that windows 8 doesnt have all the functionality but it looks like synaptics has a driver on their website that has full functionality for the special gestures. Id appreciate it if anyone can confirm this because 8 looks pretty fast on these machines.

Drivers | Synaptics

 

Touchpad works fine on Windows 8, I've only had it become non-responsive a few times. But since the latest Synaptics drivers from a few months ago, it freezes much less than it used to.

These most notable guestures work:
-You can swipe from the right edge to bring up the charms bar
-You can swipe from the top to bring up the context menu in any "modern" app (ie it has the same effect as right clicking with the mouse in any modern app)

But swipe from the left to open switcher does not for some reason
Oh and disabling the touchpad via the hotkey DOES NOT work, because Dell have not released any OEM drivers; the hotkey has now become a toggle for the orange trackpad light
(but you can still disable the touchpad via the mouse settings in Windows)

 

I'm having a rather annoying issue after I downgraded from Win8 to Win7 on my L502x. CPU is running at max speed constantly, forcing the fan on pretty much at all times. Before I reinstalled, I could switch on my laptop, and it'd be quiet for ~5 minutes before the fan started switching on (Thanks, CapitanKasar!). Now however, the CPU is pretty much pegged at 2,8 or 2,9GHz, even when doing nothing. And a quad-core i7 does generate a fair bit of heat!
I recently repasted and removed dust. GPU is UV.

Anyone got any tips?